Penetration Testing Methodology — Cybersecurity Analyst / Ethical Hac…

The structured process professional penetration testers follow from scoping to reporting

Steps in Penetration Testing Methodology

Penetration Testing Methodology Overview — advanced · The PTES/OSSTMM phases: pre-engagement, recon, exploitation, post-exploitation and reporting
Reconnaissance and OSINT — advanced · Gathering public information about a target before ever touching their systems
Scanning and Enumeration — advanced · Actively mapping live hosts, open ports and running services on a target network
Exploitation Techniques — advanced · Turning a discovered vulnerability into actual access on a target system
Post-Exploitation and Lateral Movement — advanced · What happens after initial access: persistence, pivoting and moving deeper into a network
Practical Privilege Escalation — advanced · Hands-on techniques for escalating from a low-privilege shell to full control
Writing a Penetration Test Report — advanced · Communicating findings, risk and remediation clearly enough for both engineers and executives